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Escaping San Francisco

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Re: Escaping San Francisco

#11

Post by Daniel_sk »

flak48 wrote: post #3

As someone planning to move to San Francisco from outside the US soon, is living in SF really as bad as all the blogs make it to be? I chose SF mainly because of its proximity to the outdoors (which I value highly) and relative lack of a concrete jungle feeling compared to NYC EDIT: I have visited SF a few times for work before, and found the homelessness and filth to be confined to a few neighborhoods..

I would recommend spending a week or two there first. I was astonished how many crazy and homeless people are on the streets and theft/crime levels (broken windows on cars is now nothing uncommon). Do you want to actually live directly in SF or somewhere in the surrounding cities?

Re: Escaping San Francisco

#13

Post by dpedu »

flak48 wrote: post #3

As someone planning to move to San Francisco from outside the US soon, is living in SF really as bad as all the blogs make it to be? I chose SF mainly because of its proximity to the outdoors (which I value highly) and relative lack of a concrete jungle feeling compared to NYC EDIT: I have visited SF a few times for work before, and found the homelessness and filth to be confined to a few neighborhoods..

It is highly dependent on where in the city you live. Your experience will be drastically different, but then again, so will your rent.

Re: Escaping San Francisco

#14

Post by chrisseaton »

Daniel_sk wrote: post #11
flak48 wrote: post #3

As someone planning to move to San Francisco from outside the US soon, is living in SF really as bad as all the blogs make it to be? I chose SF mainly because of its proximity to the outdoors (which I value highly) and relative lack of a concrete jungle feeling compared to NYC EDIT: I have visited SF a few times for work before, and found the homelessness and filth to be confined to a few neighborhoods..

I would recommend spending a week or two there first. I was astonished how many crazy and homeless people are on the streets and theft/crime levels (broken windows on cars is now nothing uncommon). Do you want to actually live directly in SF or somewhere in the surrounding cities?

Are those issues only in the downtown area or they extend to the residential areas to the west as well?

Re: Escaping San Francisco

#15

Post by AllegedAlec »

chrisseaton wrote: post #10

> We eventually discovered the apartment building we were living in was built in 1908. Yes, we were living in a “sick” building that was over 100 years old, and never knew. We even found photos of our former apartment in historical archives dating back to the 1920’s. Is being just a hundred years old some kind of inherent problem? Obviously rotting is bad but they talk about discovering that it existed in 1908 like t…

American houses are made with cheap wood most of the time. Especially when you live in an older home, these are highly attractive to moulds when the building isn't maintained.

Re: Escaping San Francisco

#16

Post by prpl »

I’ve been paranoid about how bad places in SF can be, and have had some issues with mold occasionally. I have a rent controlled apartment I’ve been in for 8 years, but I’ve done the maintenance myself to improve the place and keep health issues down, which largely boils down to making sure surfaces are sealed and cleanable:

Paint the bathroom and use a mold killing primer.

Refinished hardwood floors.

Wash walls with TSP and paint using an oil-based primer (only one room so far, this was more for lead-based paint sealing)

Keep the windows cracked often

Clean the bathroom walls with bleach often (several times a year)

Clean some other room walls with bleach occasionally (once a year)

Clean window sills a few times a year

Bought a dehumidifier (I will actually buy another soon)

I don’t pay $3k+ a month though. One of the reasons I did all that work is precisely because I have been worried about moving to a new place, spending s fortune, only to find the landlord has never maintained it or knows how terrible it is.

Re: Escaping San Francisco

#18

Post by djrobstep »

flak48 wrote: post #3

As someone planning to move to San Francisco from outside the US soon, is living in SF really as bad as all the blogs make it to be? I chose SF mainly because of its proximity to the outdoors (which I value highly) and relative lack of a concrete jungle feeling compared to NYC EDIT: I have visited SF a few times for work before, and found the homelessness and filth to be confined to a few neighborhoods..

I wouldn't move without visiting first, I found the place incredibly depressing.

Dire poverty, brutal injustice, and blatant dysfunction at every corner, in one of the most moneyed cities in the world. A human centipede of grift at city scale. Nice bridge tho.

Re: Escaping San Francisco

#19

Post by inferiorhuman »

chrisseaton wrote: post #14
Daniel_sk wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would recommend spending a week or two there first. I was astonished how many crazy and homeless people are on the streets and theft/crime levels (broken windows on cars is now nothing uncommon). Do you want to actually live directly in SF or somewhere in the surrounding cities?

Are those issues only in the downtown area or they extend to the residential areas to the west as well?

It's not as bad west of Twin Peaks, but there are still homeless folks living there. I'm baffled by the folks who think there aren't any homeless people out west (presumably they never go out at night). You'd be hard pressed to find any city in the Bay Area without a homeless problem.

Re: Escaping San Francisco

#20

Post by thrower123 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #10

> We eventually discovered the apartment building we were living in was built in 1908. Yes, we were living in a “sick” building that was over 100 years old, and never knew. We even found photos of our former apartment in historical archives dating back to the 1920’s. Is being just a hundred years old some kind of inherent problem? Obviously rotting is bad but they talk about discovering that it existed in 1908 like t…

Survival bias in many cases means that a building that is still standing from 1908 is better quality than many built in 2008.

Lead paint and knob and tube wiring are the most common problems you find with houses of that vintage, if they've not been updated. They are largely before asbestos, which is the massive problem with mid-century construction.

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